Quartet of senior twins leads Stadium soccer to an undefeated start in shortened season

The Stadium High School boys soccer team has reason to complain.

Just days, really, into their 2020 campaign, the Tigers and the rest of the spring sports in Washington got shut down as the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up to a rage.

“The sad part of last year,” Stadium coach Jeremy Leffel said. “It was one of the best teams I’ve ever coached.”

Fast forward 13 months. The Tigers, at least, are playing a Class 3A Pierce County League season. But, it’s a truncated schedule that again will have no state playoffs at the end of it — just a chance at a league title.

For a team with 14 seniors, that reality contains cause to complain.

This is not a group to complain, though.

“That’s all we’re given right now,” senior Henry Blair said. “And we feel fortunate to have it.”

Blair is one of the core leaders for Stadium. But he’s not alone.

And for Blair, there are connections beyond words playing next to and around him.

See, Blair and his brother Ethan both play for Stadium. And they are twins.

But more, the Blairs are just one of two sets of senior twins that populate the pitch for the Tigers. The others are Hayden and Riley Flynn.

The four make up much of a defensive unit at Stadium that is stifling 3A PCL opponents this season.

“They’re part of the stability of the team,” Leffel said of his twin sets. “They also are four extraordinarily upstanding young men. I have full trust in them.”

In the back, Hayden Flynn has been the starting goalkeeper at Stadium since his sophomore year. His brother Riley and Henry Blair hold down the center back spots, playing next to each other.

That pairing seems to have extended the twin connection across the brother lines.

“I mean, it helps because Henry is just really good,” Riley Flynn said. “And since Ethan plays midfield, I’ve slowly picked up on their connection as we’ve been playing together.”

The combinations have led Stadium to a 5-0-1 record to start this season. The Tigers have allowed just a single goal all season, during a 7-1 victory over Bonney Lake on April 15.

Overall, Stadium has outscored its six opponents, 36-1.

“I started to wonder if we’d ever get scored on,” Leffel said.

The only non-victory came early against Wilson, a 0-0 tie. Stadium hopes to see the Rams again in early May, when the league tournament rolls around.

Would these seniors embrace the chance to make a state run? Absolutely.

“Last year was definitely the strongest team we had,” Riley Flynn said. “It was our year, 100%, to win state. This year, we definitely would have pushed for that state title again.”

When that aspiration became unreachable, the goals had to change at Stadium.

“We wanted to keep a clean sheet all season,” Riley said. A ‘clean sheet’ translates into no goals scored by opponents. “And we want to beat Wilson. They biggest thing now is to win the (3A PCL) championship.”

The Flynns and Blairs stepped onto the Stadium campus as freshmen, having played tons of soccer with their own brothers, but not with each other. The families live in different areas of Tacoma, so the sets of twins never played on the same teams growing up.

But soccer wasn’t (and isn’t) all these four do.

“We’ve always liked the same things,” Ethan Blair said of he and his brother Henry. “It’s been kind of like an unspoken agreement.”

The Blairs played other sports in addition to soccer growing up, including baseball, a sport Ethan said was one of their dad’s favorites. But it’s been on the soccer field where the two always have excelled and connected.

“It never gets old,” Ethan Blair said. “It’s just really natural. We don’t have to second-guess. We don’t have to think about it.”

The Flynns still play other sports together, forming a doubles combo that qualified for the state tennis meet (regular season is played in the fall, so was done prior to the pandemic) a year ago. But the Flynns also enjoy a friendly rivalry.

“We’re always fighting to see who’s better,” Hayden Flynn said.

That competition happened, even in youth soccer in goal.

“Actually, my brother did (goalkeeper) first,” Hayden said. “But as Riley gradually went back on the field, I stayed in and found I was pretty good at it.”

Where it will take him, Hayden Flynn doesn’t know.

“I think I might be taking a gap year,” Hayden said. “It’s always been a dream to play Division I soccer.”

With no junior year and little club opportunity in 2020, and a short senior season, recruiting has not happened.

“At least for the seniors last year, they were already set, already recruited,” Leffel said. “We have several kids that would have the opportunity to play at a high level.”

For now, though, there are no complaints.

“This year is so different,” Leffel said. “There’s a lot of laughing on the field. A lot of fun.”

And if you’re part of a pair of twin sets, apparently a little ribbing going on, as well.

“I just think the better twins just play the center back position,” Henry Blair said, including Riley Flynn. “The better looking of the twins, too.”

This story was originally published April 22, 2021 at 5:00 AM.